Jeff wrote some other books you may recognize. There was Highest Duty with Chesley Sullenberger and Gabby, with and about Gabby Giffords. There were also two other books with special meaning for me.

The Girls from Amesis about the lifetime friendships of several women from Ames, Iowa. I told Jeff how exactly it captured the spirit of the friendships among my wife’s starting-in-childhood friends. And there’s The Magic Room. The story is about a bridal shop in Fowler, Michigan, but the book is about what we want for our daughters.

Frankly, I wouldn’t be writing this post if Jeff Zaslow was just another reporter. With most reporters you exchange information and then you move on. And there are lots of authors I won’t miss after they’re gone. I may miss their work, but they’re not people to me. With Jeff, it was different. I’ll miss his work, but I’ll also miss Jeff.

In every conversation or email exchange you got a little bit of Jeff. And in every conversation or email exchange you knew you were dealing with a person who cared about you and not just about the information you were exchanging. That’s why I’ll miss Jeff Zaslow and I bet a lot of other people will, too.